Busy

XiaoXiao noticed that there were no doors on the UPS trucks. So at the first opportunity, when we happened across a truck and driver while we were walking the dogs, she promptly ran up to the door.

"Excuse me?"

"Yes?"

"Why don't you have doors?"

The driver explained that there were doors, and showed her the pocket doors. He said there was no AC, so that was why they were left open.

"Oh. What about seat belts? Do you have a seat belt?"

He assured her that every UPS driver has and wears seat belts.

"Okay. Good. You should be safe."

She was satisfied, he was amused, and we went on our way.

Now she wants to find a FedEx truck to be sure that they, too, drive safely.

Just call her XX, Safety Inspector.

.......

She knows most of the checkers at the grocery store. She hugs one (this woman actually shuts down her register to come see XX), she speaks to one in Chinese, she tells the rest what she's up to, what I'm up to, what Daddy is up to, and finds out what they're up to. If there is someone she doesn't know, she asks their name, asks to see their name tag to check to make sure they are telling the truth. Then she starts in with the questions: how many kids do they have, how old, boys or girls ...

XX, Head of HR. Or CIA.

.......

She plays at being a doggie, but she is not content to walk around on all fours and bark. She also lies next to Ariel and the two of them do "tricks" together. It's funny to watch the two of them take turns, watching each other shake, sit, lie down, etc. XX also copies Boris's marking of anything vertical (she pretends, thank goodness), and ulp, even tries the dog kibble. "Juju does it!" is her reasoning. Thanks, Juju.


XX, Method Actor.

........

We had a discussion on one of her favorite subjects: poop. She finds it incredible that some animals like birds and horses can poop while on the move. She asked if worms poop. She asked if fish poop. It went on. She asked if plants poop. (We decided that oxygen was plant poop as were dead leaves.)

"I think everyone has to poop. Everyone. They have to. Even burglars."

(Obviously, burglars are low on her totem pole.)

XX, Biologist.

.......

She asked if her cousin Sebastian has cousins. I told her she was one of his cousins. Her eyes opened wide, her jaw dropped, then she grinned. "Really?" She couldn't believe she, not only had a cousin, she was one.

XX, Cousin.

.......

We're going to see Carver perform in "Les Miserables." Accordingly, she and I have been listening to the music and talking about the story. Her truncated version so far:

"It's about Jean Valjean. He stealed a loaf 'a bread. Then Javert chased him, but Jean Valjean ran faster. Maybe he drove fast."

XX, Contributor to Cliffsnotes.

.......

Our conversations about Les Mis are interesting. XX still doesn't quite understand how these are fictional characters, but they will be played by real people. How Fantine will die, but the girl who plays her will still be alive. She pointed out when she was onstage, she was still XiaoXiao. But perhaps most mysterious is this question: "Will the pretend people have legs?"

XX. There is no better explanation I can give for this one.

.......

She was talking about people who wear glasses being older. I told her that not everyone who wears glasses is old, for instance, her friend Kyra.

"Oh yeah. Right." She thought about this for a moment. "If Kyra takes her glasses off, does she turn into a boy?"

She was relieved to hear that her beloved Kyra remains a beautiful girl, glasses or not.

Pure XX.

.......

Death is still highly abstract. There is a flattened squirrel on the sidewalk of the neighbors' house. She does her best not to step on it. It's not that it's disgusting, which it is; she has her own reasons.

"I don't want to make it more dead. Or hurt it."

.......

There is never a dull (or unfunny) moment in our family.

XX, Laughter Fairy

Riding

We took our first family ride yesterday. We were all a little nervous. XX hasn't ridden without me running right behind her and can't get on or off by herself. At one point, she stopped a little too far in the street, toes on the ground, butt on the seat, but unable to move or get off. She just stood there yelling, "Mama!" I am so grateful for this quiet neighborhood with few cars and considerate drivers.

She rode with us to the end of the street and back home. Today she was able to do it much better, making some turns and even, at the end, getting off the bike by herself.

There is still a bit of the "puppy" in her, turning to look at people on the side, but still riding forward. I had to yell to keep her from riding into a parked van.

But today was much better. If only I could improve that quickly at anything. It won't be long before we tackle the bike trail.

Friday

XX seems to be doing well in her new school. We feel lucky to have gotten her into a class where her outrageousness is celebrated, yet directed in a positive direction. She told me last week that in her old school, she had to "sit on the bench" a lot (read: in trouble). Here she is not ever. She seemed surprised, which made it all the sadder for me.

She has a substitute for the next few weeks and this teacher, too, is wonderful. XX came back yesterday with a loaf of bread she had baked in class. Proud doesn't begin to describe how she felt.

My child always feels good about herself, but yesterday, she was beyond sparkle. I could have sworn actual light was coming from every cell. I wanted to kiss her teacher for giving XX this pride. The bread was pronounced the "delicious-est" and slices were promptly taken over to our neighbors, Shirley and Carter. We've also put some away for Daddy who is away. XX is sure he will love it! (As I said, not lacking in confidence.)

Later in the afternoon, we did some weaving. She's on her third potholder already.

Then in the evening, she watched her first full movie: the old Disney "Alice in Wonderland." XX just listened for a while (as she was still weaving), then decided to watch, too.

Generally, television is too passive an activity for her. She'd rather be writing or painting or swimming or playing or, well, anything but just sitting and watching. (Of course, just sitting and watching is not a choice in this house, but she doesn't seem to be able to do it anyway unless there is singing and/or dancing.)

But on occasion, she'll choose a DVD at the store. We put it on, she watches a few minutes and is satisfied. She once watched almost an hour of "Happy Feet." So for her to sit to the end of this was amazing. Perhaps moreso as it was all in Mandarin. She never seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary and watched just fine, only once asking me what someone said.

I saw her do some of her ballet stretches at the same time. Even when engrossed, she can't sit and "just watch" for long.

It was a thoroughly satisfied little girl who fell asleep last night. Now what can we do today?!

Baby Yoga

XX said she was going to do some "baby yoga." This is what she thinks it looks like:

What do you think? Do I even need to spring for classes or instructional DVDs?

Pretty Good

We had a great Fourth of July. XX took part in a neighborhood kids' parade in the morning, walking and waving a flag at elderly neighbors who came out to cheer on the children. Afterwards, there were cookies, muffins and popsicles.

And last night, there was the treat of staying up late to see fireworks. It's the first year she's been able to hold out that long. She took a long nap in the afternoon in anticipation and was so excited to be out when it was dark.


We'd planned on going to a park to see big fireworks but found out that the neighborhood did a smaller show on the street. Walking beats driving (and finding parking), so we went down at dusk and enjoyed over two hours of amazing street fireworks. It was actually pretty spectacular and a great deal more fun than watching from afar.


XX loved being up close and declared her favorites to be the loudest, sometimes shrieking along in excitement. She loved the sparklers and we wrote her name on the asphalt with them as is apparently customary. This morning, we walked down to see her name along with all the other kids' names.

She's at that age where she should know more about the holidays than that they exist so we also talked about the history of the day and what it meant. She nodded seriously, and then said, "Wow. The country is REALLY old."

She paused, then thought to politely add in a compliment. "Still, it's doin' pretty good!"

On a happy day like yesterday, it certainly seems so.